Financial Times “Independence stay”

American Academy Arts and Letters Award in Architecture

On March 20, 2012, the American Academy of Arts and Letters announced that firm principals Elizabeth Gray and Alan Organschi have been awarded an Arts and Letters Award in Architecture. This award honors American architects whose work is characterized by a strong personal direction. The winners were chosen from a group of 40 individuals and practices nominated by the members of the Academy. The members of this year’s selection committee were: Henry N. Cobb, Michael Graves, Hugh Hardy, Steven Holl, Ada Louise Huxtable, Richard Meier (chairman), James Polshek, Billie Tsien, and Tod Williams. “Simple structures like a contractor's storage shed or a footbridge,” said Tod Williams, “are gently re-imagined and then realized as elegant, exactingly detailed buildings that are as spare and as astonishingly rich as a poem.” The awards will be presented in New York City in May at the Academy’s annual Ceremonial. Work by the winners will be featured in the upcoming exhibition on view in the Academy’s galleries on Audubon Terrace.

Elizabeth Gray Elevated to AIA Fellowship

In February, the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows elevated Elizabeth Gray to Fellowship, recognizing her for her “significant contribution to the profession” and “to architecture and society on a national level.” She and other 2012 Fellows will be honored at an investiture ceremony on May 17 at the 2012 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in Washington, DC.

Alan Organschi to speak at Alvar Aalto Symposium

Alan Organschi has been invited to speak on the firm’s work at the 12th International Alvar Aalto Symposium “Crafted – the Ingredients of Architecture” to be held at the Jyvaskyla University Campus in Jyvaskyla, Finland in August. His talk, entitled “Mistaken for Craft,” addresses the way in which procedural error, the willful disregard of codified craft technique and construction practice, and the overturning of basic assumptions about material value and utility, can—as in the most forceful work of Alvar Aalto—radicalize the built environment and reconfigure our cultural relationship to the materials and methods that produce it.

Dwell Magazine “Outdoor” Special Issue

In April, the Footbridge in Madison, Connecticut was included in Dwell Magazine’s “Outdoor” Special Issue. “Bridge Works” described the structural conception and precise execution that produced minimal impact to an ecologically sensitive site. We thank our former colleague Adam Hopfner and the crew at Loco Construction for their skill and nerve.

Dwell Magazine “Best Homes in America” Special Issue

The Cottage in Guilford, Connecticut was featured in Dwell Magazine’s January Special Issue “Best Homes in America.” The article entitled “Light Motif” by William Lamb described our very special collaboration with our wonderful clients, Brooks and Suzanne Kelley. Special thanks to project Architect Kyle Bradley and Builder Andy Fowler for their excellent work and dedication to the project.

Residential Architect Rising Star Award

In December, Gray Organschi Architecture was honored for its “outstanding contribution to residential work that advances the profession as a whole” by Residential Architect Magazine. Firm principals Elizabeth Gray and Alan Organschi received the magazine’s Rising Star Award at the 2012 Reinvention Symposium at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.

Teach, Pray, Live

A New York Times piece by writer Fred Bernstein about Gray Organschi’s Fairfield Jesuit Community Center examines the ways in which the new building embodies the Jesuit’s commitment to being good stewards of the earth by building sustainably and to supporting community through the creation of convivial public space.

Alan Organschi will present a lecture entitled Scarce Means; Alternative Uses at the D.F. Pray Foundation Lecture Theater (Arch 132) at 6PM on September 29, 2010. This lecture is part of the 2010 lecture series for the Roger Williams School of Architecture where Gray Organschi Architecture is the 2010 Architecture Teaching Firm in Residence.

Kelley Cottage featured in Dwell

The Kelley Cottage was featured in the September 2010 issue of Dwell. The issue’s feature theme, Bright Ideas, looked at creative lighting in modern dwellings. We are grateful to Suzanne and Brooks Kelley for sharing their story.

Gray Organschi is selected for New York City Design & Construction Excellence program

We were pleased to be selected as one of two firms outside of New York to take part in New York City’s Design and Construction Excellence (D+CE) program, a city-wide initiative of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York Department of Design and Construction “to aggressively pursue an innovative and ambitious public works program in partnership with the most creative and experienced design professionals in the world.” Twenty-eight architecture firms will work over the next two years on the most architecturally challenging and important design and building projects that the City will undertake.